Rockford council targets four city streets for renovation project

The Rockford City Council has approved an infrastructure renovation project for an area known as the “Wolverine Addition.” The renovation will cover work on the four streets between Lewis and East Main streets.

City Manager Michael Young said that the main goal of the renovation is to install a storm drain beneath the streets. He said the city believes the current lack of storm drains is causing increased infiltration into the old clay storm sewer pipes in the ground, driving up the city’s treatment expenses. The renovation will also involve work on parts of Adolph and Elizabeth streets that run between Lewis and Julia streets, including paving parts of Julia.

“Infrastructure is our targeted focus next to public safety, so we’ll keep looking at ways we can budget and fix things,” Young said during the meeting. “…We’re hoping to be under budget so we can target some other streets. For instance, Fremont is in really bad shape and we think that needs to be done.”

He also listed Helen and James streets as other potential targets for future renovation. The council hopes that addressing those infrastructure projects now will prove more cost-effective than waiting until major repairs are unavoidable.

“We owe it to our citizens to fix these things while we can,” Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Coon said.

The city received 11 bids for the project, ranging from $1,407,000 to approximately $730,000. Ultimately, the council voted to award the contract to CNL Trucking and Excavating, for the amount of $729,888, plus $180,000 for materials.

“They did the Gaylord Street project for us and did a really great job,” Young said of CNL. “They’re a great company.”

The city will purchase project materials itself, which grants the purchase tax-exempt status and saves the city from paying extra fees to purchase materials through a contractor, according to city officials.